My mare is 4 rising 5 OTTB. When I got her in the summer she had already competed some low level shows in the hunter ring. She was (until recently) a dream to work with. Sweet, willing, and unflappable. A true barn favourite.
In November she started tripping ALOT. Like 5 or 6 times a ride. She would trip at a walk or trot, on grass or on sand. I didn’t pay much attention to it because she is so lovely to work with and she had low heels that my ferrier and I were working on correcting slowly. Beginning of January she started spooking hard at very strange times for no reason, and was also very unwilling to trot a circle. She’d try to stop whenever I asked her to circle. It’s also very difficult to lunge her because she’s started exploding on the lunge line at anything more than a walk (rearing, striking out, bucking, running backwards). Which I have to reiterate is strange for her because of how solid she is. I chalked it up to the fact we had been in the indoor arena so much in the last two months because of Canadian winter.
At the Beginning of February she tripped at a walk and went down onto her knees, while walking in the arena under saddle. I was worried, but I was also about to get her feet trimmed so I let it go again…
middle of Feb now and she has refused all work. She plants herself and when asked to move forward she rears and multiple times in a row. I put her on a probiotic think g maybe it was ulcers and started giving her Acid FX before we rode. No effect. She hasn’t flipped yet, but it’s been close a few times. Now at the end of February I’ve gotten a dentist out to get her teeth floated (she had some mild ulcerations and sharp enamels). She also blew an abscess that same day the dentis came out. I gave her a few days off and got out a chiropractor to see if there was any pinching etc. Chiro said nothing major, just some tightness in her pole, though she isn’t convinced it would cause that level of reaction. I gave her banamine for two days and gave her 4 days off. However now, just handwalking her she rears and spooks, trips herself, and strikes out.
I cant say enough how out of nature this is for her. She was a happy go lucky, try her hardest, life loving girl and it seems she so angry about life now. I’m concerned it may be neurological. However I’ve never heard of wobblers resulting in sudden onset of rearing. Has any one had any experience with that? If she isn’t any different with a few more days off, I’m going to call the vet in and get a neurological check done.
Any words of advice would be appreciated
